Marci Hamilton: The History of Religion in The United States

Posted on September 14, 2015 by Erik Schneider

U.S. Constitution

Source:The New Democrat 

I believe Marci Hamilton hit it best that one of the great things about America is our Freedom of Religion and religious diversity. Because we are such a diverse country both ethnically and racially a country of Anglo-Saxons, Scandinavians, Germanic’s, Slavs, Mediterraneans, Latinos, Africans, Asians, Indians, Middle Easterners, Jews and others, we are also a very diverse country religiously as well. Because all of these people’s have their own cultures, traditions, faiths, that represents where their ancestors come from. That we don’t have one dominant ethnic or racial majority with one religion for the whole country and we certainly aren’t governed by any religion either. We have Freedom of Religion and freedom not to practice any religion, but we also have Separation of Church and State.

Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, is free to believe that homosexuality is a sin and that gays are sinners simply for being gay and that same-sex marriage is some moral threat to straight marriage. And she’s also free to be deeply wrong about that. But as a government official she swore a duty to serve and protect the public. And even in Rowan County, Kentucky that includes gay people and she simply can’t deny gays access and deny them marriage licenses simply because they are gay. She has a sworn duty to serve those people as much as she has a sworn duty to serve straight people. And if she has a problem from that she always resign from office. And perhaps take up the fight of protesting against homosexuality in America wither other members of the Christian-Right in this country.

And while Kim Davis is still serving the whole public in her country she still retains the right to believe that homosexuality is a sin and that gays should be second-class citizens in her county and perhaps everywhere else. Simply by using her First Amendment right and her freedom of religion. But that stops when it comes to forcing your religious beliefs as deep as they may be on everyone else in your community. Freedom of Religion in America doesn’t give people the right to force others to live by your beliefs and deny people access because of your beliefs especially when you’re a public official. If Clerk Davis doesn’t want to serve the entire public in the county she can always resign her office and go work in the private sector like at her church.

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David Von Pein: ‘The Age of Kennedy: NBC White Paper (1966)’

Posted on September 12, 2015 by Erik Schneider

JFK

Source:David Von Pein– NBC News documentary about John F. Kennedy

Source:The New Democrat

“THE AGE OF KENNEDY” is an outstanding “NBC White Paper” documentary that was first aired (in two parts) on the NBC Television Network in late May and early June of 1966.

The two “White Paper” programs (subtitled “The Early Years” and “The Presidency”) chronicle the life and political career of the 35th President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

This black-and-white documentary is filled to the brim with excellent archival film footage of JFK and his family. This program is definitely one that should be seen and downloaded for future viewings. It’s absolutely wonderful.

Adding to the classy flavor of this particular JFK video biography is the frequent narration of distinguished actor Henry Fonda in the first half of the program, as Fonda reads words that were written by John Kennedy himself. Chet Huntley of NBC News also serves as a narrator throughout this 101-minute documentary.

In 1997, “The Age Of Kennedy” programs were released by NBC News on home video in a 2-Tape VHS collector’s set, with a slightly-altered title: “NBC White Papers: The Kennedy Era”.

From David Von Pein

John F. Kennedy’s early years as an adult are not very impressive. He was in the U.S. Navy for a few years during World War II and got out in 1945 to and then ran for the House of Representatives in 1946 and got elected there mostly because of his name and his father literally buying votes and ballots.

I think the way to look at Jack Kennedy in the 1940s and 1950s is as a student who is still figuring things out and trying to decide what he wants to do in life. But I don’t believe he figures that out until his first term in the Senate in 1953. Jack Kennedy, was a playboy in Congress really the whole time he was there from 1947-61. His six years in the House and eight years in the Senate. He marries Jackie in 1953 and that doesn’t make him any more responsible.

Kennedy doesn’t figure out what he wants to do and where he’s going in life really until he gets reelected to the Senate in 1958. And he writes the book Profiles in Courage where you get to see his political and ideology emerge. In the 1950s, JFK becomes a Cold War, Liberal Democrat, who sees communism as the biggest threat to freedom and even mankind. As well as someone who wants to use a limited government to empower people in need to get themselves up and live well in life.

Kennedy, wasn’t a Conservative that today’s right-wingers want to portray him as, or a Social Democrat that had a government program to solve everyone’s problems for them. That today’s so-called Progressives want to see him as. But he was a Classical Liberal (the real Liberal) realist and pragmatist.

By the time Jack Kennedy completed his first term in the Senate and decided that he wanted to be President of the United States is where he got serious as a public servant and political leader. That communism needed to be defeated and that freedom needed to be expanded at home. For Americans who were struggling and living in poverty, but also for Americans who were simply denied access in America because of their race and color. Which is just one reason why JFK being assassinated at the age of 46 in 1963 is so tragic. Because the great liberal Jack Kennedy as a political leader was just emerging. He probably gets reelected fairly easily in 1964 against Senator Barry Goldwater. And I think we would have seen one of the best American leaders of all-time.

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ABC World News Tonight (July 10, 1978) The Soviet Union Making Trouble

Posted on September 10, 2015 by Erik Schneider

ABC WTN

Source: The New Democrat 

The thing that people need to know about Marxist states which is exactly what the Soviet Union of Russia was for over seventy-years before the Soviet Union broke with all the non-ethnic-Russian states breaking away and creating their own independent countries, is that they can consider anything that goes against the state as treason. And anyone that says anything in opposition to the central state, is a treasonous. Which is what the fake trial of Natan Sharansky back in 1978 was which was fake. Here’s a man who was simply calling for human rights in a Marxist state where human rights don’t exist. The only rights that exist in a Marxist state all belong to the central government. Which is supposed to use that power to take care of the people.

In the late 1970s you saw Russia get more aggressive with their foreign policy and make moves in North Africa and Central Asia to protect their interests. Like in Ethiopia to protect a Marxist government there and of course in Afghanistan to install a Marxist government there. While at the same time you saw Russian activists and non-ethnic-Russian activists in Russia like Natan Sharansky speak out in favor of human rights in a country where they simply don’t exist. As well as Russian citizens and non-ethnic-Russian citizens including Russian-Jews fleeing their country in hopes of finding freedom and coming to America so to speak because of that. And part of that had to do with President Jimmy Carter making human rights as part of his foreign policy.

1978 was a big year for tax cuts and a bad year for high taxes. As you saw several states with movements calling for cutting taxes across the board. Even in the so-called Republic of California that has always had high taxes and has been one of the most progressive states in the union when it comes to taxation. And yet they had a movement led by anti-tax advocate Howard Jarvis, who you could call a 1970s Tea Party leader who managed to get on the state ballot there a measure that would cut property taxes across the board. And it passed even though California is one of the biggest Democratic states in the union as far as party registration. With a 2-1 Democrat to Republican party ratio. With Democrats controlling both houses of the State Legislature going back to the 1950s.

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ABC News: America Held Hostage: The Iran Crisis

Posted on September 8, 2015 by Erik Schneider
ABC News

ABC News

Source:The New Democrat 

I never make excuses for terrorists and terrorism and don’t respect anyone who does. But the U.S. Government including the Carter Administration and every single American administration going back to Harry Truman, have some responsibility for this crisis. The Iran Hostage Crisis is the perfect example of the weakness and consequences of backing unpopular authoritarian dictatorships. Whatever you think of the Shah of Iran Mohammed Reza Pahlavi and he did have come progressive qualities liked developing the Iranian economy, he was a brutal dictator to his opposition. Both Islamic Theocrats and more liberal democratic factions in that country.

The Iranian people and the Islamic revolutionaries in that country were simply fed up with the Pahlavi Regime there and wanted a different form of government and a different future there. Which is what and whatever you think of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeni, a different future as an Islamic theocratic dictator of Iran is exactly what he represented for Iran. A different future for that country. The Iranian people essentially replaced one authoritarian dictatorship for another one. Which sort of goes to the judgement of that country and doesn’t make them look very good. But perhaps that’s for a different discussion. The United States, backed the Shah of Iran, because they were worried about what type of government would come to Iran instead and because of Iranian oil and gas.

The United States and the United Kingdom, interfered with the governmental operations of Iran for almost forty-years, because they were worried about the Shah falling and being replaced by an anti-Western authoritarian regime. But that is exactly what they got anyway which was an extreme Far-Right Islamic theocratic government to replace a more moderate and reasonable monarchy that they wanted all along. As America also found out with their backing of authoritarian dictator Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, there serious and deadly consequences that come from backing unpopular dictators. And the way you prevent even worst regimes from coming to power is to work with the people on the ground. Not backing unpopular dictators.

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Bob Parker: ABC World News January 6, 1987: The 100th Congress & The Iran Contra Investigation

Posted on September 7, 2015 by Erik Schneider

ABC News

Source:The New Democrat

Early 1987 and really the whole 1987 year was a bad one for President Ronald Reagan and the Reagan Administration. Republicans, lost the Senate in 1986 which gave Congressional Democrats complete control of Congress going into 1987. Just when the Iran Contra investigation was in the news and when both the Senate and House was looking into that. The House and Senate put together a joint Congressional committee to investigate the Iran Contra situation in the summer of 1987. Where people like Marine Colonel Oliver North became a famous name and person and became a main focus of the Congressional Iran Contra Committee.

I was eleven years old and in fifth grade for most of 1987, so I don’t remember a whole lot about the politics that year. I remember seeing some of the Iran Contra Committee with my parents on TV. I remember hearing about Gary Hart running for president and then dropping out because he was caught having an affair with a women who wasn’t his wife. I remember hearing the name Michael Dukakis and a little about Robert Bork who President Reagan nominated for the U.S. Supreme Court. But most of these things except for Gary Hart and Mike Dukakis weren’t good for President Reagan. And all issues that Vice President George Bush would have to inherit as he ran for president in 1988.

For really the first six years of the Reagan Administration, except for perhaps 1986 when Iran Contra became a big issue, President Reagan and his team were always on the offensive. And able to push their issues and get the country behind them in some key areas. They got their military buildup, tax cuts, Social Security reform, immigration reform, negotiations and better relations with Russia, to use as examples. But 1987 was the 1998 for the Reagan Administration. Where they played defense for most if not the whole year. Either answering questions they didn’t want to answer, or trying to avoid questions that they didn’t want to give the full truth on.

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Movie Clips Classic Trailer Vault: ‘Lenny Official Trailer- Dustin Hoffman Movie (1974)’

Posted on September 5, 2015 by Erik Schneider

Lenny 1974

Source:Movie Clips Classic Trailer Vault– from the trailer of Lenny.

Source:The Daily Review

“Lenny Trailer – Directed by Bob Fosse and starring Dustin Hoffman, Stanley Beck, Frankie Man, Gary Morton, Guy Rennie. The story of acerbic 1960s comic Lenny Bruce, whose groundbreaking, no-holds-barred style and social commentary was often deemed by the Establishment as too obscene for the public.”

From Movie Clips Classic Trailer Vault

Lenny Bruce, was a comedian who used humor to talk about everyday American life. And part of how Americans live is how we interact with each other even in the most personal of ways. Including, marriage divorce, family and yes, even sex. All he did was talked about how Americans lived, but he did it in public. He said things in the public that right-wing culturally conservative establishment who perhaps thought we were a Middle Eastern fundamentalist country and not a Western liberal democracy, didn’t believe Americans should be allowed to hear or say.

As I mentioned yesterday had Lenny came out 10-20 years later, he probably never spends a day in jail for his act. At least outside of the Bible Belt. He actually had a significant criminal record as a thief and dealing with drugs, but when it came to his comedy act he was arrested for literally using adult language in public. Which is clearly unconstitutional under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. He wasn’t libeling people, he was inciting violence, he wasn’t calling for violence to come against anyone. Even the cops who arrested him for using adult language. He was simply using adult language in public as part of his comedy routine.

People tend to think of political correctness as censorship against language that may tend to offend certain groups of people. And that is true obviously, but political correctness in the 1950s and early 1960s was used against people who used language that lets say the most religiously conservative of Americans not only find offensive, but immoral.

And when that language is used they believe the people who say those things should literally be arrested. Today political correctness is used against comedians and other commentators who say negative things even if they’re true against minority groups in America. Lenny Bruce was a victim of 1950s and 1960s right-wing political correctness fascism.

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Holy Smokes! Jeans In Boots

Posted on September 4, 2015 by Erik Schneider

Jeans in Boots

Source:FRS FreeState– Holy smokes, Batman!

As someone who is a nonsmoker, I don’t get anything out of seeing women smoking, unless they’re doing something sexy while they’re smoking, like dancing or pacing back-in-forth while they’re smoking, in a tight outfit, with a leather or suede jacket, or just with a t-shirt (long or short) while they’re smoking. But I love sexy women in skin-tight denim jeans. I love seeing skin-tight denim on beautiful, female legs and love seeing those women move in those jeans.

Gotta love women who are physically confident and are confident because they know they are sexy. They know they are beautiful and sexy because they have natural sex appeal. Natural beauty with a great natural body, or they work hard at taking care of themselves, or both. It’s depressing to me to see beautiful, sexy women who look ragged by the time they reach their mid 30s, or in Marilyn Monroe’s case dead by 36.

Or in Whitney Houston’s case a beautiful woman, one of the best looking in the music industry, looking very unhealthy because of drug abuse and perhaps not eating properly and starving herself, in her 40s.

But it’s very impressive to me to see gorgeous, sexy women in their 40s, take Mariah Carey for example. Or in their 50s with Catherine Bach or 60s like Jaclyn Smith’s case or 70s in Raquel Welch’s and Tina Turner’s case.

When sexy women take care of themselves, they don’t take drugs. They eat properly, balanced meals, they get enough sleep, they workout and they have a good time. Which relieves stress and many of these middle age, or upper middle age women look better than a lot of these younger women. And they don’t burn out because they take care of themselves.

And don’t get swept away in the Hollywood lifestyle and celebrity culture. They have ability as far as their job and are always able to find work. But they also always look great because they work at it. It’s great to have natural beauty and a great natural body, but that only goes so far. Just like a car or a house, you have to be able to maintain it, to keep looking great.

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Mysteries & Scandals: Lenny Bruce

Posted on September 4, 2015 by Erik Schneider

imdb_ mysteries and scandals_ lenny bruce - Google Search

Source:IMDB– comedian and free speech champion Lenny Bruce.

Source:The New Democrat 

“E! Mysteries & Scandals: Lenny Bruce (1998)

John Magnuson (friend), Julian Barry (playwrite), Hugh Hefner (friend), Richard Lewis, Mort Saull and Alan Douglas (producer) are among the people interviewed to discuss the career of Lenny Bruce.

If you know anything about Bruce then you know he got a really, really bad and unfair deal in life. With countless arrests, drug addiction and the threat of prison, Bruce was just unlucky and I think everyone agrees that he was unfairly prosecuted. This episode does a wonderful job at telling his story and how the court system really derailed what should have been a terrific career. The interviews with those who knew Bruce give you a great idea of what he was going through at the time and especially the one with Hefner who actually helped the comedian with his legal fees…

From IMDB

“Lenny Bruce TV Documentary”

Mysteries & Scandals_ Lenny Bruce

Source:Paye Yer– from the Mysteries & Scandals documentary.

From Paye Yer 

“One of the most influential stand-ups in history, Lenny Bruce burst onto the stage in the 1950s, forever changing comedy with his free-form, no-holds-barred performances. His caustic social commentary made him a legend. But it also made him a target for his critics and law enforcement, leading to an infamous 1964 arrest that put both Bruce and free speech on trial.

Bruce found his comedic voice early in his career
The son of a shoe clerk and a dancer, Long Island-born Leonard Schneider turned to entertainment following a teenage stint in the U.S. Navy during World War II and made his first appearance as an emcee at a Brooklyn nightclub shortly after his return from service.

Bruce’s early work was traditional, focusing on inoffensive material like celebrity parodies and impressions, which earned him bookings on radio variety programs. But Bruce soon grew dissatisfied. A fan of Beat generation artists and writers and a music devotee, he was deeply influenced by the free-flowing, improvisational nature of jazz, which he thought he could adapt for his stage performances, along with his own dark, satirical view of once-taboo topics like politics, religion, race, sex, and drugs (Bruce’s own drug addiction began during this period).”

Lenny Bruce

Source:Biography– Lenny Bruce being arrested for speaking his mind.

From Biography

Keep in mind that Lenny Bruce’s act came out in the 1950s and up until the early 1960s when we were still living in this Leave it to Beaver Pleasantville, where a lot of Americans are supposed to live on the farm, or out West, type of culture.

The 1950s idea of political correctness was not saying anything that went against this establishment. Where sex and divorce wasn’t talked about, where government officials were considered gods and looked up too, where women’s place was in the home and where gays place was in the closet, jail, or a mental institution. Where everyone at least was supposed to take their parents word as gold and if you questioned them, you were committing a sin.

Imagine if you’re Lenny Bruce and this is the culture you live and work in and your act is not ahead of its time, but you might be twenty-years ahead of your time. Your act would be mainstream in 1975 or so and to a certain extent in the late 1960s in certain places, but you’re starting out in the early and mid 1950s where America was still supposed to be Pleasantville.

You have a comedian in Pleasantville whose literally being arrested and you have cops going to his shows for talking about things that the supposed culture and establishment of the time sees as unacceptable. Even with our liberal free speech and first amendment rights.

Lenny Bruce, was using swear words in a culture where words like damn, hell, bitch, bastard, ass, words that were very mainstream by the mid 1970s or so, that were considered very sinful and immoral in 1955, or so.

Lenny, wasn’t getting in trouble for calling for people to be hurt, or murdered, or libeling people, things that aren’t protected by the First Amendment. Bruce was being harassed and prosecuted by government for using adult language. And talking about adult topics like marriage, divorce, sex and using adult language. All things that are protected by our first amendment.

I think the closest comedian to compare Lenny Bruce with would be George Carlin. Who came onto the scene about ten-years after Bruce. But they have similar styles and the ability to take on the system, or establishment and inform people that America and their country isn’t as perfect as their government wants them to think it is.

The America that the 1950s Political Correctness Police, had real issues and concerns that need to be dealt with. And that talking about things even adult subjects issues that all Americans do in private at least is okay to talk about those things in public as well. And besides, we have a First Amendment that protects this speech anyway.

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USA Today: Kirsten Powers: Donald Trump, Evangelical Scam Artist

Posted on September 2, 2015 by Erik Schneider

The Donald

USA Today:Donald J. Trump (Reality TV Star, New York City)

Source:The Daily Review

This is one example of why I love Kirsten Powers. Her damn straight to the point honesty. And oh by the way, to anyone on the Right who now sees Kirsten Powers as one of their new heroes, she’s a self-described Liberal. I was starting to think I was the only one who didn’t take Donald Trump seriously as a presidential candidate. To take The Donald seriously as a presidential candidate, I would have to take Michael Jordan seriously as a Major League baseball player. I guy who struck out in Double A. I would also have to take meat lovers seriously as vegans and I could go down the line, but I won’t.

Donald Trump for president, is literally a realty show. He has no idea what he would do as president and probably doesn’t even want the job. His whole campaign and scam, really. I mean he’s anti-abortion? I mean this guy has less credibility on that issue than Mitt Romney. Donald Trump has been officially anti-abortion since he decided to run for the Republican nomination for president a few months ago. As Kristen powers said he has a long record of supporting pro-choice abortion causes. He’s a fundamentalist Christian who has never asked for forgiveness from God. Who has been married and divorced multiple times who at best is still learning how to be a good husband.

The whole Donald Trump for presidential realty show/soap opera, goes to my whole point about ignorant voters who don’t know who they’re voting for. Donald Trump, is the best scam artist as far as the number of people he has fooled, perhaps of all-time. He’s a billionaire and he’s never spent a day in jail for any of his scams. And because you have this so-called Silent Majority Tea Party Middle America faction of the country, who still can’t believe its no longer the 1950s and that their America has disappeared. With all the new diversity and tolerance for different ways of living in America that are now considered acceptable to most Americans, Donald Trump has a Super Bowl sized audience to pull off his latest realty show/scam. Who Wants Donald Trump For President?

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Brookings Institution: Government Thomas Mann: ‘Election 2016: The Dumbing Down of American Politics’

Posted on August 31, 2015 by Erik Schneider
The Donald

The Donald

Source: The Daily Review

Tom Mann-“Donald Trump and the chorus of Republican presidential aspirants may have appeared to monopolize the capacity to make fantastical claims about what’s wrong with America and how to fix it. But a new entrant–Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig–has outlined a very different sort of fantastical claim. In this post, Thomas Mann looks at Lessig’s candidacy and what it says about the state of American politics.”

The Dumbing Down of American Politics, so I guess American politics had reached a new low and American voters are now borderline retarded. And vote for people based on what realty shows they watch, or who they’re favorite celebrities are, or do they have the same smart phone. Wait, Americans voters already vote for candidates based on those things. How else do you explain our last two president’s. Neither one of them became president based on their deep knowledge of the issues, or their brilliant resumes. But because they’re likable and the country was looking for something different. And this coming from someone who voted for Barack Obama twice. But not because I think he’s like totally awesome, or whatever. But because he was the best person for the job.

I don’t think American politics can get any dumber. The presidential election is already a popularity contest. The candidate who gets the voters to personally like them the most for whatever the reasons tends to get the job. The most important job and election in the world is not rewarded to the person who has the best economic, national security, or foreign policies, but to the person who looks the most Hollywood, lets says. The person whose seen as the hippest. And a lot of our Congressional races both House and Senate are decided that way as well. That is you get a billionaire like a Donald Trump, who the whole country knows from his so-called realty TV show, looking like a contender for the Republican presidential nomination.

As George Carlin, politicians are us. They’re the people they represent. They weren’t beamed down here from Star Trek, or someplace to play career politicians on TV. They live and come from our communities and speak the language of the people they live with and share the same politics. And what career politicians do, that is people who get a heart attack at the even thought of having to have a real job and work outside of government and perhaps go back to selling shoes, or auto insurance, is take advantage of the communities that they come from. And the more extreme the community they represent, the more extreme rhetoric. Whether they actually believe the bullshit that they’re saying, or not.

If Americans want better politicians and politics, they need to be better voters. The only ways someone like a Donald Trump can get on the national scene is, that he’s a billionaire. who had his own so-called reality show and that there a lot of dumb voters in America who believe Latinos are invading America and raping their daughters , trying to occupy America as if they were a Western ISIS and want to create a Greater Mexico. And oh by the way. They believe Latinos are stealing their fast food, food service, retail and agriculture jobs. That most Americans wouldn’t take even if it meant they would have to starve. And what The Donald does, is play to those fears of a very ignorant people who simply don’t know any better.

American voters should look at politicians and political candidates the same way they look at buying a car, or house, or clothes, What’s the best purchase for them based on the money that they can afford to spend on that purchase and exactly who’ll represent them best with that purchase. And stop looking at American politics likes it’s a game show, or beauty contest. But instead whose the best candidate for the job based on how they would vote, or what policies they would push and what they would do for the country. Who would best defend, promote and develop the country so the most Americans possible can live well here. Instead of voting for people based on what they’re favorite movies, or entertainers are and do they watch celebrity TV and so-forth and so on.

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